We had a great February! Our students participated in the Freckle Frenzy Math Challenge and did great! We love seeing the students excited about learning. We are also doing AR Prize Patrol each Monday and presenting the class with the most AR accuracy and participation from the previous week with balloons and prizes. So far only kindergarten and first grade classes have won. We are hoping to be able to present some of our upper grade classes with prizes soon! Encourage your child to read and take AR tests! Reading every day is important and is proven to increase academic success! Our third graders visited the Decatur Public Library and our 4th graders were able to go see the Huntsville Symphony perform. The Greenpower team participated in their first race for the year and our Math team participated in the district Math tournament. Both teams represented our school well and we are proud of their hard work. Texas Roadhouse provided their delicious rolls for classes with the best attendance. We appreciate their partnership with us! Our PTO also hosted our Valentines Dance in February and it was a huge success! Thank you to all who attended! Our teachers also had the opportunity to participate in professional development with other elementary school teachers in the district on the remote learning day. We heard Todd Whitaker, author of What Great Teachers Do Differently and other books, speak. It was a great day of learning for our faculty and staff.

We are so proud of all our students for participating in our February Freckle Frenzy! Top students in each class were awarded each week. Below are our monthly winners. The first place winners from each grade are invited to attend the school board meeting March 9th to be recognized and receive a prize! The top three students in each class will receive an ice cream party and the top class will receive a new Osmo to use for Math centers for their class. Congratulations to all our winners!!!

1st Place Winners:

K-Bethany Jenkins

1st-Brindlee Coons

2nd-Lydia Young

3rd- Desiree Mendoza

4th-Eman Ali

5th- Jasmin Gonzalez

2nd and 3rd Place Winners:

K- Madelyn Oliver and Jana Qasem

1st- Beckham Tessier-Martinez and Gabriel Printz-Bensko

2nd- Princeton Jackson and Selah Jenkins

3rd- Ayden Smith and Gabriella Tibbs

4th- Ayven Stevenson and Kevin Saldana

5th- Cooper Talley and Blake Eddy

Top Class Winner: Mrs. Wall's Class

Congratulations to our February Student of the Month, Savannah Emerson, for displaying Consistency and Dependability this year!

We are having a great Read Across America Week. The students and teachers are enjoying dressing up and reading! We have loved having guest readers in this week including parents, grandparents, firefighters, police officers, and other community members. We are thankful to our parents and community for supporting our school any time we ask!

Congratulations to Mr. Devin Lacy, our music teacher, for not only being selected as the Julian Harris Teacher of the Year but also the Decatur City Schools Elementary Teacher of the Year! We are so proud of him!!

Congratulations to Erin Bodiford for being name the Julian Harris New Teacher of the Year!!

Congratulations to Terri Suggs, our bookkeeper, for being named the JHES Staff Member of the Year!

March Madness--This is our March reading challenge. Encourage your child to read and take AR tests. The class with the most books read with a passed AR quiz will receive an OSMO for their classroom! All the classes are excited about this!

Women's History Month

2/27-3/3: Read Across America Week

3/3: Student Council Meeting

3/9: Spring Pictures

3/10: Last day to turn in Heart Kids Challenge money

3/12: Daylight Savings Time Change

3/13-17: Spring Break

3/20-22: 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade PACT presentations

3/24: Report Cards go home

3/28: 4th Grade Field Trip-Cook Museum of Natural Science

3/29-3/30: 4th Grade Science ACAP test

3/31: Behavior Incentive--Easter Egg Hunt

Field Day will be May 18th!!

Our new behavior incentive is underway at JHES. Students start with a set number of points each day depending on their grade level and will be able to earn or lose points throughout the day based on their behavior choices. At the end of each month students who earn a certain amount of points will be rewarded. Our February Glow Party is this Friday, March 3rd. Our March incentive is an Easter Egg Hunt. Please encourage your child to be on his or her best behavior every day. If you would like to donate candy or prize filled eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt, please send those to the school no later than March 24th.

Testing starts this month! Our students and teachers are working hard to make sure they are ready for the ACAP test. Help us encourage your child to pay attention and participate in class so he/she will be ready! We have seen a lot of growth on our STAR tests and are expecting the same results on ACAP. Check out my counseling site for resources and other information from the counseling department. I have added a Testing Resources page with information for parents and students to help with test preparation and test anxiety.

Thank you for all the participation in our Cherrydale cookie dough fundraiser. We had a great sale and raised over $5,000 to go towards a creativity lab and help with field day expenses. Frozen items and other items ordered on paper forms will be delivered to the school the week of March 20th. Please be ready to distribute the frozen items quickly to those that ordered. We do not have the exact day the items will be delivered, but we will need volunteers to help sort and distribute when they arrive. The magic show for students who sold 10 items or more will be the afternoon of March 7th.

1. Respect the rights, property, and/or feelings of others.

2. Take pride in my school.

3. Follow the directions of all school personnel.

4. Show excellence in the effort required for success.

Please make sure you have connected with your child's teacher on Seesaw. This is the new way we are communicating with parents throughout the district.

Please be reminded of our drop-off and pick-up procedures to ensure our mornings and afternoons run smoothly. K, 4th, and 5th graders should be dropped off and picked up on the Auburn side of the school, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders should be dropped off and picked up on the McNair side of the school. If you have multiple students please drop off and pick up on the side according to the youngest student's grade.

Please make sure your child is at school on time every day unless he/she is sick. Attendance is important to ensure success in school. Remember, if your child is absent please send an excuse the day he/she returns to school to prevent truancy.

Please make sure your child is reading every night at home. It is proven that at least 20 minutes of reading each day can greatly improve reading skills. Encourage your child to read AR books and take tests to on them to help improve fluency and comprehension.

10:10 - 10:40 PreK Roberts

10:15 - 10:45 Kindergarten Lightford

10:20 -10:50 Kindergarten Nix

10:25 - 10:55 Kindergarten Russell

10:30 - 11:00 Kindergarten Ricks

10:35 -11:05 Kindergarten Spears

10:40- 11:10 1st Grade Compton

10:45 : 11:15 1st Grade Doran

10:50 - 11:20 1st Grade McGinnis

10:55 - 11:25 1st Grade Wall

11:00 - 11:30 2nd Grade Flack

11:05 - 11:35 2nd Grade Mishalanie

11:10 -11:40 2nd Grade Richards

11:30 -12:00 4th Grade Hardison and 5th Grade Singh

11:35 - 12:05 4th Grade Barham and 5th Grade Bodiford

12:10 - 12:40 3rd Grade Brown

12:10 - 12:40 3rd Grade Brown

12:15 - 12:45 3rd Grade Tribble

12:20 - 12:50 3rd Grade Wasson